Special Poteau election set Tuesday

Poteau Mayor speaks out about pros, cons of citizens electing or City Council appointing Poteau PD Chief, Street Commissioner

In October, the Poteau City Council approved by a 5-3 vote to put before the citizens of Poteau a chance to voice their thoughts about whether to keep the current system in place where Poteauians continue to vote for Poteau Police Department Chiefs and City of Poteau Street Commissioners or allow the Poteau City Council to appoint the new Poteau PD Chiefs and Street Commissioners.

On Tuesday, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Poteau precincts only to approve the City Council to appoint each officer.

Poteau Mayor Scotty White shared his pros and cons with both the current system and what would happen should the citizens of Poteau continue electing their police chiefs and street commissioners or a let the City Council appoint those two officials. In the October City Council meeting, Council members B.J. Johnson, Wimp Webb, Jim Holstead, Connie Shockley and Jim Sommers voted for the proposal, while councilmen Monte Shockley II, Tommy Robertson and Phillip Zearley voted against the measure.

“Obviously, we’ve done a really good job in the history of Poteau electing the right people,” White said about the current system. “I think that’s the good of it.”

However, White is quick to point out that under the current elected-by-Poteauians system, any such elected official has to live in the Poteau city limits. Under the proposals that are being voted upon Tuesday, that would lift that restriction.

“The drawback is that as elected in both positions, whoever holds that position has to live in the city limits (of Poteau) — even upon the time of running for the office,” he said. “You’re not going to get a lot of candidates. It makes it tough.”

White mentioned the pros to allowing the City Council to appoint Poteau PD chiefs.

“On the police (chief) side, one of the pros would be is we can hire from out of town, say a retired police chief who lives in Tulsa,” the Poteau Mayor said. “They would not have to live in the city limits (of Poteau). Obviously, the (Poteau City) Council could hire and fire at will, where as it is now being elected they have the rights of an elected official. Regardless of the job they would be doing, they’re there for their term — unless they do something the (LeFlore County) District Attorney’s office can unseat them. With social media the way it is right now and will be forever, you have a guy that’s running a good campaign for chief of police or is the active chief, has to use physical force say at Tote-A-Poke and it gets caught on camera. Say the election is two days out, he cannot beat social media. Right or wrong, he’s barbecued across the world. He may have been saving a child, but that image will make him not able to outlive social media. That’s one reason (for letting City Council appoint chiefs of police).”

As for street commissioner, it’s just the fact that so many qualified candidates live outside the Poteau city limits.

“When Jim Seale retired, we put it on Facebook and in the paper (looking for applications for City of Poteau Street Commissioner),” White said. “We had four applications total out of 9,000 people. We had lots of qualified people that were interested, but they didn’t live in the (Poteau) city limits. When you’re talking about construction jobs, we’re loaded with them in LeFlore County, but not very many of them live within the city limits. A lot of them live in the country.”

White said that a lot of people have approached him — both near and far away — about why Poteau still has these two positions as elected officers.

“People have talked about it for years — even when I was running (for City of Poteau Mayor) — and a lot of people have asked me why are these two positions still elected,” he said. “It’s very few and far between across the state. We’re kind of the last of a dying breed to have done this. At the end of the day, I think the quality candidates we would get for the job would be better if we could hire from outside the city limits. It wouldn’t make our job easier as far as making the appointments — that’s always a tough decision. It would definitely broaden the eligible candidates.

“I think the (Poteau) City Council should be able to hire and fire at will. I had a guy approach me and say, ‘I’ve always been able to get things done in the (City of Poteau) Street Department because I used the leverage of him being elected,’ but at the same time the people who are doing the appointments are still elected. Instead of having to go to that street commissioner, go to that Council person. At the end of the day, I’m in charge of the day-to-day operations (of the City of Poteau).”

White want to make it very clear that should these proposals pass Tuesday it will not lead to any kind of conspiracy or scrutiny.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say this is a big conspiracy and we’re just wanting more control,” Poteau’s Mayor said. “This is why we put it to a vote of the people. This is totally the people’s choice. If the people so choose to keep it the way it is, by all means we’ll keep on doing business — no harm, no foul. I’ve just had a lot of outspoken people, even from across the state, say, ‘Why are you still doing this (electing these two offices)?’ People don’t operate that way anymore, and it’s kind of a thing of the past. So, I thought, why not put it to a vote. However the people feel, that’s the we’ll do business. We’re here for them.”